[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 201 (Wednesday, October 19, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60849-60850]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-20912]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


60-Day Notice of Intention To Request Clearance of Collection of 
Information: Opportunity for Public Comment

AGENCY: Department of the Interior, National Park Service.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The National Park Service (NPS) Office of International 
Affairs (OIA) proposes to collect information from property owners who 
volunteer for their properties to be included in a list of sites 
(Tentative List) that will be considered for nomination by the United 
States to the World Heritage List.
    In order to manage the U.S. World Heritage Program (37 CFR 73) 
effectively and in a timely manner NPS must prepare and submit through 
the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of State to the World 
Heritage Centre by February 1, 2007, a Tentative List of properties 
that appear to meet the criteria for nomination to the World Heritage 
List and which the United States intends to nominate during the ensuing 
decade (2007-2017).
    Only sites that have been found to be of national significance and 
that have such legal protections as are necessary to ensure the 
preservation of the properties and their environment may be considered 
for nomination by the United States. By law, all property owners must 
also concur in any World Heritage nomination.
    In order to gather the required information for the preparation of 
the Tentative List, it is proposed that an expanded and annotated 
version of the ``World Heritage Nomination Format'' (or form, 
hereinafter referred to as the ``Application'') be made available to 
owners who wish to apply for inclusion in the U.S. Tentative List. It 
would be made available on the Internet at http://www.nps.gov/oia and 
http://www.georgewright.org.
    Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 5 
CFR part 1320, Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements, the NPS 
invites comments on the need for and proposed manner of gathering the 
information in the study. Comments are invited on: (1) The practical 
utility of the information being gathered; (2) the accuracy of the 
burden hour estimate; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize 
the burden of information collection to respondents, including the use 
of automated information collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.

DATES: Public comments will be accepted on or before sixty days from 
the date of publication in the Federal Register.
    Send Comments to: Send comments and requests for copies of a draft 
of the proposed Application and the accompanying Guidebook to the U.S. 
World Heritage Program to James H. Charleton, Office of International 
Affairs, National Park Service, 1201 I Street NW. (0050). E-mail: 
james-- [email protected]. Phone: (202) 354-1802. Fax (202) 
371-1446.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James H. Charleton, (202) 354-1802 or 
April Brooks, (202) 354-1808.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Instructions for Preparing U.S. World Heritage Nominations.
    Form: Format for the Nomination of Properties for Inscription on 
the World Heritage List.
    OMB Number: To be requested.
    Expiration Date: To be requested.
    Type of Request: Request for new clearance.
    Description of Need: The primary purpose of the proposed Collection 
of Information is to gather the information necessary to evaluate the 
potential of properties for nomination by the United States to the 
World Heritage List and to use the information for preparing a 
Tentative List of candidate sites. The World Heritage List is an 
international list of cultural and natural properties nominated by the 
signatories of the World Heritage Convention (1972). The following 
year, the United States was the first nation to ratify the treaty. U.S. 
participation and the roles of the Department of the Interior and the 
National Park Service are authorized by Title IV of the Historic 
Preservation Act Amendments of 1980 and conducted in accord with 36 CFR 
73--World Heritage Convention.
    A Tentative List is a national list of natural and cultural 
properties appearing to meet the eligibility criteria for nomination to 
the World Heritage List. It is an annotated list of candidate sites 
which a country intends to nominate within a given time period.
    The World Heritage Committee has issued Operational Guidelines 
asking participating nations to provide Tentative Lists, which aid in 
evaluating properties for the World Heritage List on a comparative 
international basis and help the Committee to schedule its work over 
the long term. The Guidelines recommend that a nation review its 
Tentative List at least once every decade. The current U.S. Tentative 
List (formerly Indicative Inventory) dates to 1982.
    The U.S. Tentative List will serve as a guide for at least the next 
decade (2007-2017) of U.S. nominations to the World Heritage List. The 
Tentative List will be structured so as to meet the World Heritage 
Committee's December 2004 request that the Tentative List allow for the 
nomination of no more than two sites per year by any one nation, at 
least one of which must be a natural site (excluding potential 
emergency nominations not at present foreseen).
    The National Park Service Office of International Affairs (NPS-OIA) 
and the

[[Page 60850]]

George Wright Society (GWS) are working cooperatively to prepare a new 
U.S. Tentative List. After various reviews and approvals, NPS-OIA will 
forward a recommended list to the Secretary of the Interior for 
consideration and then to the U.S. Department of State for submittal to 
the World Heritage Committee.
    The proposed Application that is the subject of this Notice will 
document properties that are owner-nominated for inclusion in the 
Tentative List and for subsequent nomination by the United States to 
the World Heritage List. The information proposed to be collected will 
be used to determine whether the properties meet the criteria 
established for inclusion. The documentation also will be used to 
assist in preserving and protecting the properties and for heritage 
education and interpretation.
    Automated data collection: The proposal is to have the Application 
available from the Internet and for it to be submitted electronically 
by e-mail to the cooperator in the Office of International Affairs who 
is preparing the draft Tentative List. Those without access to 
electronic means will be able to obtain copies of the Application via a 
telephone, fax, or mail request and return them by mail.
    Description of respondents: Individual private property owners, 
groups of private and/or public property owners and Federal land 
managers. Participation would be strictly voluntary and only respondent 
owners who submit, or who authorize to be submitted on their behalf, a 
completed Application would have their sites considered for inclusion 
in the U.S. Tentative List.
    Estimated Annual Reporting Burden: 3200 hours. The expected range 
is 2000-6000 total hours, depending on the balance between less complex 
sites and more complex ones. If 50 individual Applications are 
received, of which 35 are of single buildings and 15 are of more 
complex sites, the total burden hours would be 3200.
    Estimated Average Burden Hours per Response: 64.
    Depending on the complexity of the site for which an Application 
for inclusion in the Tentative List is being prepared, the average 
burden hours per response would vary considerably because of many 
complex factors. In general, to fulfill minimum proposed program 
requirements describing the property and demonstrating its eligibility 
under the World Heritage criteria, the average burden hours likely 
would range from 40 hours for a single building Application to upward 
of 120 hours for a more complex group of buildings or a natural area 
Application, such as a major national or state park unit or wildlife 
refuge. The proposed Application is structured electronically so as to 
be used without continuation sheets, with space being inserted between 
sections as needed. The calculations of average burden hours provided 
here rest upon review of sample nominations of average length.
    Estimated Average Number of Respondents: 50.
    Frequency of Response: 1 time per respondent.

Doris Lowery,
Acting National Park Service Information and Collection Clearance 
Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-20912 Filed 10-18-05; 8:45 am]
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